Audio Sermon, Part I, Part II
They complained that the food was always the same – which it wasn’t, but every four weeks it did repeat. They complained that there was nothing new in town – which was not totally true, but it was true that the town did not offer something new and exciting every week. And they complained about the monthly worship service being the same, which, to them, was the fact that the order of service was always the same, even though the songs, the scripture, and the sermons varied every month. Seen through the eyes of a young person, much of the world seems to be the same day after day, week after week, month after month.
Of course, they were looking at the big picture, the routine of the school cafeteria, the town shopping area, the worship service. Those of us who were a bit older looked at the fine texture and saw the subtle changes in the menu – green beans instead of corn on chili day, sliced peaches instead of sliced pears on hot dog day – after all, there’s only so much you can do and be assured that 90 percent of the students will eat your food. Sushi or curried chicken might be different, but it never would be as popular with the students as pepperoni pizza is.
The town slowly changed, with a couple of new restaurants every year, a couple old ones dying, a couple of new stores, a couple old ones dying. And the worship service did not change because that was something that was commanded by Rome and the bishop. And the day in 2011 it DID change – when new words were sent out to the English speaking world for the responses to the priest’s calls – the students didn’t like that either. For it had become different – and even those high school students found that they had nostalgia, a love of the old and established, a love for memory, a love for the past.
We all have nostalgia, don’t we? We look back and remember that golden age when our town and county was filled with good paying jobs, when our churches were full of children, when our neighborhood was a fun, joyful place to play in. We remember a time when our town was safe.
Or was it?
Clarksburg in the 1960’s and 1970’s was a rough place. The town had gained a reputation for murder beginning in the 1930’s with the Quiet Dell serial killer. Illegal gambling led to murders. The coal strikes around the state got people shot, the glass plants began downsizing. Smart people began to pack up their families and move to North Carolina and Georgia – or across the hill to what they saw as a safer, quieter town - Bridgeport. Yes, the churches were full of children because people were having 3 and 4 children and more per family, and the kids had fun. But our parents didn’t let us hear about the shootings that happened downtown. And the mines were closing as the companies opened up cheaper, cleaner mines in Wyoming. And our parents? They remembered the wonderful times back in the 1940’s and 1950’s while complaining about how bad things were in the 1960's and 1970's...
For some reason in America – and particularly here in the mountains, we always have a tendency to look at the past as golden and the future as dark. So many people I run into look at their childhood as grand and look at a future return of Christ, as Revelation speaks of it – as a scary, dark future.
Some of us even look at change in the church as a scary, dark thing. Why is this? Is it because pastors in our youth who were comfortable with a nostalgic world taught us to be suspicious of all changes? Were they – and then us – so focused upon a dark reading of Revelation that we forgot to look at the joy of Christ’s return?
They complained that the food was always the same – which it wasn’t, but every four weeks it did repeat. They complained that there was nothing new in town – which was not totally true, but it was true that the town did not offer something new and exciting every week. And they complained about the monthly worship service being the same, which, to them, was the fact that the order of service was always the same, even though the songs, the scripture, and the sermons varied every month. Seen through the eyes of a young person, much of the world seems to be the same day after day, week after week, month after month.
Of course, they were looking at the big picture, the routine of the school cafeteria, the town shopping area, the worship service. Those of us who were a bit older looked at the fine texture and saw the subtle changes in the menu – green beans instead of corn on chili day, sliced peaches instead of sliced pears on hot dog day – after all, there’s only so much you can do and be assured that 90 percent of the students will eat your food. Sushi or curried chicken might be different, but it never would be as popular with the students as pepperoni pizza is.
The town slowly changed, with a couple of new restaurants every year, a couple old ones dying, a couple of new stores, a couple old ones dying. And the worship service did not change because that was something that was commanded by Rome and the bishop. And the day in 2011 it DID change – when new words were sent out to the English speaking world for the responses to the priest’s calls – the students didn’t like that either. For it had become different – and even those high school students found that they had nostalgia, a love of the old and established, a love for memory, a love for the past.
We all have nostalgia, don’t we? We look back and remember that golden age when our town and county was filled with good paying jobs, when our churches were full of children, when our neighborhood was a fun, joyful place to play in. We remember a time when our town was safe.
Or was it?
Clarksburg in the 1960’s and 1970’s was a rough place. The town had gained a reputation for murder beginning in the 1930’s with the Quiet Dell serial killer. Illegal gambling led to murders. The coal strikes around the state got people shot, the glass plants began downsizing. Smart people began to pack up their families and move to North Carolina and Georgia – or across the hill to what they saw as a safer, quieter town - Bridgeport. Yes, the churches were full of children because people were having 3 and 4 children and more per family, and the kids had fun. But our parents didn’t let us hear about the shootings that happened downtown. And the mines were closing as the companies opened up cheaper, cleaner mines in Wyoming. And our parents? They remembered the wonderful times back in the 1940’s and 1950’s while complaining about how bad things were in the 1960's and 1970's...
For some reason in America – and particularly here in the mountains, we always have a tendency to look at the past as golden and the future as dark. So many people I run into look at their childhood as grand and look at a future return of Christ, as Revelation speaks of it – as a scary, dark future.
Some of us even look at change in the church as a scary, dark thing. Why is this? Is it because pastors in our youth who were comfortable with a nostalgic world taught us to be suspicious of all changes? Were they – and then us – so focused upon a dark reading of Revelation that we forgot to look at the joy of Christ’s return?
Isaiah 43:16-21; Philippians 3:4-14; John 12:1-8 John 12:1-8 Audio Version
But that is not the way to look at things. That is not how God wants us to look at things.
2800 years ago, Isaiah, who was awaiting the destruction of Jerusalem, listened to God and wrote for us what God had to say:
“Do not remember the past events,
pay no attention to things of old.
Look, I am about to do something new;
even now it is coming. Do you not see it?
Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert.
But that is not the way to look at things. That is not how God wants us to look at things.
2800 years ago, Isaiah, who was awaiting the destruction of Jerusalem, listened to God and wrote for us what God had to say:
“Do not remember the past events,
pay no attention to things of old.
Look, I am about to do something new;
even now it is coming. Do you not see it?
Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert.
(Isaiah 43:18-19)
God assured Isaiah and the people who listened to him that the future would be better than the past. God even told us to not remember the past events, to pay no attention to things of old because God is about to do something new. God was to make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert!
Does it seem sometimes like your life has been a struggle in the wilderness, a dry, parched journey through the desert without water?
The people of Israel had every reason to feel that way, the way you might feel. They lived in a land where outside bandits and armies might show up any day and burn down their farms. They lived in a land where they never could count on rain to come. They lived in a land where the dry wind from the desert would blow sand on them, where lions might walk into the sheep pen one night and take a sheep or two, a land where they paid all their extra money to the ruler of the year who promised to protect them from his rival next door.
All of life was a struggle, all of life was difficult, all of life was a constant battle – and then…you could expect to die and face your God with a guilty conscience because that God had given your people the Law, telling you 613 specific things to do and not to do, and yet you had broken so many of those commands you couldn’t count them. God had specified the fines for each one of those broken commands, but you had no spare sheep, cattle or even pigeons to pay those fines. And so you were doomed. In fact, it appeared that all of Israel was doomed to be destroyed by the God that claimed them as His own.
Have you ever felt that way, doomed because of your sins?
So eight hundred years after Isaiah, God sent part of Himself to earth as the man Jesus, who became known as the Christ, a Greek word that means “the Savior”. God did something new. And Jesus began to preach that people had got things wrong, that God did not want to destroy everyone, but rather, God loved everyone, but wanted them to also love each other. And Jesus also mentioned repeatedly that God was His Father, that Jesus and God were one and the same, and even called Himself the “Son of Man”, which prophets had used to talk of a divine leader who would rescue Israel from its enemies. Jesus claimed to be God on the earth.
And the people around Him understood this claim, but did not see that this was God doing something new, and so the people often began to stone Him for this claim to be God, which they saw as blasphemous, despite the signs and wonders Jesus did – healing the blind, deaf, and lame, chasing out demons, turning water into wine. The people preferred what they knew over what was new. And so, since these signs and wonders were not getting people’s attention, when his friend Lazarus fell deathly ill and Lazarus’ sisters sent a message to Jesus to “come quickly”, He delayed. And Lazarus died.
God assured Isaiah and the people who listened to him that the future would be better than the past. God even told us to not remember the past events, to pay no attention to things of old because God is about to do something new. God was to make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert!
Does it seem sometimes like your life has been a struggle in the wilderness, a dry, parched journey through the desert without water?
The people of Israel had every reason to feel that way, the way you might feel. They lived in a land where outside bandits and armies might show up any day and burn down their farms. They lived in a land where they never could count on rain to come. They lived in a land where the dry wind from the desert would blow sand on them, where lions might walk into the sheep pen one night and take a sheep or two, a land where they paid all their extra money to the ruler of the year who promised to protect them from his rival next door.
All of life was a struggle, all of life was difficult, all of life was a constant battle – and then…you could expect to die and face your God with a guilty conscience because that God had given your people the Law, telling you 613 specific things to do and not to do, and yet you had broken so many of those commands you couldn’t count them. God had specified the fines for each one of those broken commands, but you had no spare sheep, cattle or even pigeons to pay those fines. And so you were doomed. In fact, it appeared that all of Israel was doomed to be destroyed by the God that claimed them as His own.
Have you ever felt that way, doomed because of your sins?
“Do not remember the past events,
pay no attention to things of old.
Look, I am about to do something new;
even now it is coming. Do you not see it?
Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert.
pay no attention to things of old.
Look, I am about to do something new;
even now it is coming. Do you not see it?
Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert.
(Isaiah 43:18-19)
God Does Something New
So eight hundred years after Isaiah, God sent part of Himself to earth as the man Jesus, who became known as the Christ, a Greek word that means “the Savior”. God did something new. And Jesus began to preach that people had got things wrong, that God did not want to destroy everyone, but rather, God loved everyone, but wanted them to also love each other. And Jesus also mentioned repeatedly that God was His Father, that Jesus and God were one and the same, and even called Himself the “Son of Man”, which prophets had used to talk of a divine leader who would rescue Israel from its enemies. Jesus claimed to be God on the earth.
And the people around Him understood this claim, but did not see that this was God doing something new, and so the people often began to stone Him for this claim to be God, which they saw as blasphemous, despite the signs and wonders Jesus did – healing the blind, deaf, and lame, chasing out demons, turning water into wine. The people preferred what they knew over what was new. And so, since these signs and wonders were not getting people’s attention, when his friend Lazarus fell deathly ill and Lazarus’ sisters sent a message to Jesus to “come quickly”, He delayed. And Lazarus died.
Audio Sermon Part II
The sisters were upset when he finally arrived to find Lazarus dead and in the tomb four days. They said, “If you had only been here, our brother would not have died!” They saw the new, hopeful future in Jesus, but they were still living in the past, a time when people died and stayed dead, like plants lying dead in the desert without water.
And then Jesus did something new. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, in Bethany, just three miles from Jerusalem. And then Jesus took his disciples and went off to a small village nearby for a week or so of rest and teaching.
Lazarus and his two sisters, Martha, and Mary apparently owned an inn in Bethany, were long-time friends of Jesus, and had made good money over the years with their business, in the “good ole days” of the past. But that money, that “thing of old” had proven worthless when Lazarus died – the friendship with Jesus was priceless. Jesus was the new thing God had done. He was the river in the desert of life.
The sisters were upset when he finally arrived to find Lazarus dead and in the tomb four days. They said, “If you had only been here, our brother would not have died!” They saw the new, hopeful future in Jesus, but they were still living in the past, a time when people died and stayed dead, like plants lying dead in the desert without water.
And then Jesus did something new. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, in Bethany, just three miles from Jerusalem. And then Jesus took his disciples and went off to a small village nearby for a week or so of rest and teaching.
Lazarus and his two sisters, Martha, and Mary apparently owned an inn in Bethany, were long-time friends of Jesus, and had made good money over the years with their business, in the “good ole days” of the past. But that money, that “thing of old” had proven worthless when Lazarus died – the friendship with Jesus was priceless. Jesus was the new thing God had done. He was the river in the desert of life.
John 12:1-8 John 12:1-8 Audio Version
The Passover was coming, a festival which was as important in Jerusalem at the time as Christmas is to us today. Six days before the Passover, on Saturday evening after the Sabbath had ended, Lazarus’ sister Martha catered a party at her neighbor Simon’s house. It was something new - Simon the Leper threw the party, a party held at a home where an untouchable leper lived. Jesus was the guest of honor and Lazarus was sitting at the main table with Him. A resurrected man, a new man, was sitting at the table with beside one of the three oldest Persons in existence, Jesus who was God the Son.
And so they’re eating when Mary walks into the room, Lazarus’ younger sister Mary, and talks a pint bottle of pure oil of spikenard, an expensive perfume made from the resin of a plant that grew near present-day Punjab in the Himalaya Mountains (corrected from audio sermon). She pours it on his feet and wipes his feet with her hair. It was something new, no one did this, but God had started something new, so Mary continued with it.
In ancient Israel, a land short of water, but heavy in olives and olive oil, there had developed a custom. That custom was to pour oil on the head of someone as a gift – or more particularly, to pour oil onto someone who would be the next King of Israel and/or Judah. This custom, this old thing, dated back a thousand years to the first kings of Israel, Saul and David. The oil acted as perfume, but it also acted to heal any wounds, and to cleanse the hair of the person on whom it was poured. Spikenard oil was also often used to anoint dead bodies. They were old customs, but Mary mixed them together that night in something new.
Many did not take ordinary olive oil like had been done of old. She took the most valuable thing she owned, the most expensive oil in existence and poured it, not on Jesus’ head, but on His feet, which both signified that she was acting as a lowly slave, cleaning His feet which had walked behind camels and donkeys and sheep for many miles – and also bringing to mind the homage that Ruth had paid Boaz for his kindness to her and her stepmother. An old story, but told in a new way.
Judas, the moneybag holder – which is what “Iscariot” may have meant – was outraged. The oil should have been sold for 300 days wages and the money given to the poor! That is what would have been done in the old days. And there is nothing wrong with selling valuable objects and giving the money to the poor – if your heart is generous. But John, the other disciple who wrote this account, tells us that Judas was a thief who used to embezzle the money in the bag. He wanted to sell the perfumed oil and put 10 percent of the money in his pocket. He wanted to sell the perfumed oil for 300 silver pieces – and put 30 pieces of silver in his pocket. The old ways of Judas were threatened by the new things God and Jesus and Mary had done. For those of you who know the complete story, did you notice that later that week Judas got his 30 pieces of silver? For a few hours. Then God did something new.
O Judas! If only Judas had stopped being so selfish, he would have gained so much more! Instead, his selfishness cost him everything, his friends, his life, even his eternal soul!
Archaeologists and historians have confirmed that Judas was a good judge of the value of the oil. It did indeed sell for about 300 day’s wages – 300 denarii or 300 pieces of silver – that pint or pound was worth the equivalent of 20,000 to 30,000 dollars in today’s money.
And Jesus essentially told Judas to shut up and leave Mary alone. For “she has kept it for the day of My burial” Jesus said. “You always have the poor with you, but you don’t always have Me.” It was a new idea.
It is clear from reading the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament that Jesus was strongly behind doing practical things for the poor, giving them money and food and clothing and shoes (see Matthew 25). And yes, we still have the poor with us – and we still need to give practical help for the poor. But in this case, Jesus recognized the gift of oil from Mary for what it was. It was God doing something new.
Jesus had done something no one else could do for Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus. And so, Mary had taken the most valuable thing she owned, and given it to Jesus. Not in hopes that He would do more for her – but in simple gratitude, for Jesus had done something new for her and her brother, bringing him back to life, so she had symbolically given everything to Jesus, made Him her King, given up her most valued possession and stooped down to become His lowliest slave of her own choice. People did not do this in the old ways. This was something very new.
What do you offer Jesus out of gratitude for what He has done for you? How will you change from your old ways and do something new?
Just six days later, Jesus voluntarily remained to be beaten and executed on the cross – supposedly for the crime of claiming to be God – but actually because we needed someone willing to pay the fines for all the crimes we’ve all committed against God, the sins, the wrongs, the hurts we’ve done against others. And Jesus’s execution became God’s new sacrifice to God from God on behalf of us. No one else, nothing else was valuable enough except the Son of God, the Son of Man, the perfect man, the new man who was Jesus.
What do you offer Jesus out of gratitude for what He has done for you? How will you change from your old ways and do something new?
Your consistent presence? Your special talents devoted as a slave to Christ? Something that you would consider a treasure? Your consistent praise to everyone you meet telling them what Jesus has done for you? Your life devoted to Christ?
After your normal offering today, I ask you to go home and consider what sacrifice you might make for the poorest people in this state to show them love. Can you choose not to have some coffee this week and give $10 or $20? Can you choose to eat some hot dogs at home instead of a fine meal at a restaurant and give $20 or $30. Do you have some money saved that you were planning to give yourself a gift, maybe some flowers, maybe some clothing, maybe a new tool?
Perhaps you are one of those people who could give $50 or $100, or even $500 to the poor, to the Celebration of Mission Event box on the table back there. This money does not go to this church, but goes to support mission projects throughout WV. As always, whatever you give, write your check out to the church and put in the memo field COME. I know you may not have done this in the past. It may be something new for you, giving above and beyond what you have done in the past. But what did Isaiah say?
Jesus was the something new. But Jesus is not finished making things new.
On the night before He was arrested, Jesus took a very old custom – the Passover Meal – and made it new. He changed the meaning of those symbols into something very new.
Jesus did something new. But Jesus is not finished making things new. He is making you new even now. Will you let Him? Or will you cling to your things of old?
The Passover was coming, a festival which was as important in Jerusalem at the time as Christmas is to us today. Six days before the Passover, on Saturday evening after the Sabbath had ended, Lazarus’ sister Martha catered a party at her neighbor Simon’s house. It was something new - Simon the Leper threw the party, a party held at a home where an untouchable leper lived. Jesus was the guest of honor and Lazarus was sitting at the main table with Him. A resurrected man, a new man, was sitting at the table with beside one of the three oldest Persons in existence, Jesus who was God the Son.
And so they’re eating when Mary walks into the room, Lazarus’ younger sister Mary, and talks a pint bottle of pure oil of spikenard, an expensive perfume made from the resin of a plant that grew near present-day Punjab in the Himalaya Mountains (corrected from audio sermon). She pours it on his feet and wipes his feet with her hair. It was something new, no one did this, but God had started something new, so Mary continued with it.
In ancient Israel, a land short of water, but heavy in olives and olive oil, there had developed a custom. That custom was to pour oil on the head of someone as a gift – or more particularly, to pour oil onto someone who would be the next King of Israel and/or Judah. This custom, this old thing, dated back a thousand years to the first kings of Israel, Saul and David. The oil acted as perfume, but it also acted to heal any wounds, and to cleanse the hair of the person on whom it was poured. Spikenard oil was also often used to anoint dead bodies. They were old customs, but Mary mixed them together that night in something new.
Many did not take ordinary olive oil like had been done of old. She took the most valuable thing she owned, the most expensive oil in existence and poured it, not on Jesus’ head, but on His feet, which both signified that she was acting as a lowly slave, cleaning His feet which had walked behind camels and donkeys and sheep for many miles – and also bringing to mind the homage that Ruth had paid Boaz for his kindness to her and her stepmother. An old story, but told in a new way.
Judas, the moneybag holder – which is what “Iscariot” may have meant – was outraged. The oil should have been sold for 300 days wages and the money given to the poor! That is what would have been done in the old days. And there is nothing wrong with selling valuable objects and giving the money to the poor – if your heart is generous. But John, the other disciple who wrote this account, tells us that Judas was a thief who used to embezzle the money in the bag. He wanted to sell the perfumed oil and put 10 percent of the money in his pocket. He wanted to sell the perfumed oil for 300 silver pieces – and put 30 pieces of silver in his pocket. The old ways of Judas were threatened by the new things God and Jesus and Mary had done. For those of you who know the complete story, did you notice that later that week Judas got his 30 pieces of silver? For a few hours. Then God did something new.
O Judas! If only Judas had stopped being so selfish, he would have gained so much more! Instead, his selfishness cost him everything, his friends, his life, even his eternal soul!
Archaeologists and historians have confirmed that Judas was a good judge of the value of the oil. It did indeed sell for about 300 day’s wages – 300 denarii or 300 pieces of silver – that pint or pound was worth the equivalent of 20,000 to 30,000 dollars in today’s money.
And Jesus essentially told Judas to shut up and leave Mary alone. For “she has kept it for the day of My burial” Jesus said. “You always have the poor with you, but you don’t always have Me.” It was a new idea.
It is clear from reading the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament that Jesus was strongly behind doing practical things for the poor, giving them money and food and clothing and shoes (see Matthew 25). And yes, we still have the poor with us – and we still need to give practical help for the poor. But in this case, Jesus recognized the gift of oil from Mary for what it was. It was God doing something new.
Jesus had done something no one else could do for Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus. And so, Mary had taken the most valuable thing she owned, and given it to Jesus. Not in hopes that He would do more for her – but in simple gratitude, for Jesus had done something new for her and her brother, bringing him back to life, so she had symbolically given everything to Jesus, made Him her King, given up her most valued possession and stooped down to become His lowliest slave of her own choice. People did not do this in the old ways. This was something very new.
What do you offer Jesus out of gratitude for what He has done for you? How will you change from your old ways and do something new?
Just six days later, Jesus voluntarily remained to be beaten and executed on the cross – supposedly for the crime of claiming to be God – but actually because we needed someone willing to pay the fines for all the crimes we’ve all committed against God, the sins, the wrongs, the hurts we’ve done against others. And Jesus’s execution became God’s new sacrifice to God from God on behalf of us. No one else, nothing else was valuable enough except the Son of God, the Son of Man, the perfect man, the new man who was Jesus.
What do you offer Jesus out of gratitude for what He has done for you? How will you change from your old ways and do something new?
Your consistent presence? Your special talents devoted as a slave to Christ? Something that you would consider a treasure? Your consistent praise to everyone you meet telling them what Jesus has done for you? Your life devoted to Christ?
After your normal offering today, I ask you to go home and consider what sacrifice you might make for the poorest people in this state to show them love. Can you choose not to have some coffee this week and give $10 or $20? Can you choose to eat some hot dogs at home instead of a fine meal at a restaurant and give $20 or $30. Do you have some money saved that you were planning to give yourself a gift, maybe some flowers, maybe some clothing, maybe a new tool?
Perhaps you are one of those people who could give $50 or $100, or even $500 to the poor, to the Celebration of Mission Event box on the table back there. This money does not go to this church, but goes to support mission projects throughout WV. As always, whatever you give, write your check out to the church and put in the memo field COME. I know you may not have done this in the past. It may be something new for you, giving above and beyond what you have done in the past. But what did Isaiah say?
“Do not remember the past events,
pay no attention to things of old.
Look, I am about to do something new;
even now it is coming. Do you not see it?
Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert.
pay no attention to things of old.
Look, I am about to do something new;
even now it is coming. Do you not see it?
Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert.
(Isaiah 43:18-19)
Jesus was the something new. But Jesus is not finished making things new.
On the night before He was arrested, Jesus took a very old custom – the Passover Meal – and made it new. He changed the meaning of those symbols into something very new.
Jesus did something new. But Jesus is not finished making things new. He is making you new even now. Will you let Him? Or will you cling to your things of old?
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